chapter 9

Chapter 9

What:

Behaviorism

Learning: semi permanent change in behaviors can be seen through what people do/say. This can be measured, but different measure better using different tests so the measurements are not always accurate.

There was a man with bilateral hippocampus damage who as a result had no short term memory. A Group of people went to visit this man on a regular basis. When the people went to introduce themselves to him one particular person always had a buzzer on their hand. After a few days of getting introduced to these same people and getting buzzed he actually flinched before he shook the hand of the person with the buzzer. (this sort of disproves some of behaviorism)

Behaviorism is like a Black box we don’t know what’s going on in the brain unless we see a behavior from it.

Assumptions:

-influence of environment: a person is conditioned by their environment to act certain ways

-focus on observable events: Behaviorism thinks the brain is like a Black box we don’t know what’s going on in the brain unless we see a behavior from it. Responses people make given stimuli.

-learning as behavior change: learning is changed behavior due to experience. If you explain something to your students, you ask them if they have any questions and no one says they do, you don’t really know if they understand or not.

- similarity of learning principles across species (if a dog learns that way, so does a kid)

Classical Conditioning: involuntary ex/ raising our hands
Pavlov
Unconditioned stimulus (food) = Unconditioned response (salivation)
Condition stimulus (bell) + Unconditioned stimulus (food) à Unconditioned response (salivation)
Condition stimulus (bell) = Conditioned Response (salivation)
Many times the Unconditioned response and the Conditioned response are the same.
Operant Conditioning: voluntary
Skinner
-antecedent stimulus, behavior, reinforcement
Reinforcers
Note reinforcers are unique to each student.
These tend to kill intrinsic motivation —try to use tokes for stuff the HATE
Make reinforcement a surprise
Make contingent on level of quality
Practical Reinforcement (in order of preference)
-self praise –praise – attention – grades & recognition – home-based reinforcement – privileges –activity reinforcement – tangible reinforcement – food
Reinforce the group: -group contingency –token economy
Shaping: -break tasks down, attain criterion
Eliminating Behavior:
-reinforce incompatible behaviors (ie/ if the child talks a lot reinforce when they don’t)
-cueing
-don’t be afraid to tell students what you are doing (I am ignoring those who are not raising their hands to be called on)
- “extinction burst!” beware (things will get worse before they get better)
-extinction procedure
Punishers: unique to each student, use only when reinforcement fails, DON’T do in front of OTHER students
Forms: -verbal reprimands – response cost (loosing reinforcement)- logical consequences – time out – in-school suspension
Ineffective forms: - physical punishment – psychological punishment – extra class work – out of school suspension – missing recess
Potential Punishers: - temporary – may distract student from behavior – negative emotional response – aggression – does not illustrate correct behavior

So What: Behaviorism is very popular among teachers because it can be measured without taking brain scans etc. There are flaws in it though as show by the man who no longer had short term memory. From the basic assumptions Behaviorism has we can deduce educational implications. From the assumption of the Influence of the Environment we learn that the environment of the school and classroom is very important for learning.
  Conditioning is something that as teachers we will use in the classroom, although it is more revered to as training. We train children to know the routine we have in our classroom. We train children to walk quietly down the halls. Behaviorism outlines how this is effectively done through reinforcement. There a lot of different ways to go about reinforcing behaviors has we learned in chapter 9. You can take give the student something or take something away to reinforce behaviors. Reinforcing is going to be a big part of managing classes and it's important that it's as effective as possible. to DO this one needs to specify desired behaviors at the beginning, identify consequences that will really be reinforcing for the specific student, only use extrinsic reinforcers as last attempt, make repose-consequence contingencies explicit, and be consistent!!!
Now what: Since we know that behaviorist assumption are important for learning in the classroom I can take this one step further by implementing the knowledge I have to better my teaching. Since we know that environment is important I need to create an environment where children feel safe and comfortable. If I can encourage good behaviors by praising students (especially ones who need more help) on their desirable behavior I will create a positive environment students will want to learn in. It's important to note that especially with Young children the consequence needs to come as close to the behavior as possible in order for the reinforcement to be effective.
  It will be important for me to examine all the students I have and especially the ones who need the most management, to see what is truly reinforcing and punishing so that I can be effective. When the class isn't behaving how I want them to, it will be important for me to step back as the teacher and figure out what I am doing wrong and what undesirable behaviors I might be enforcing.